Purple Ribbons
by Alba Nix
Summary: Mai doesn't expect to be thanked by Naru for making him chocolate on Valentine's Day. But in fact, she gets an even bigger surprise. Implied LinxMai. PG with one use of strong language.


Here comes short but sweet... Written on and for February 14th 2008, posted 15th (in England) as I finished it at 11:30pm and all I could really think about was bed. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! And specifically, thank you to Kyia Star who gave me the idea for this story!

Note: This is set after the latest novel, but not in the same universe as _Smitten Apart_. Implied pairing is obvious.

**Purple Ribbons**

_Naru_. _Kazuya. __Oliver._

Mai sighed and stared at the fifth piece of paper she had pulled out to attach to the box of chocolates she had made for Naru. She couldn't decide how she should address the gift to him. She knew Masako would probably arrange for a specialist in an expensive shop to have 'Naru' written into every single chocolate in the box, but she wasn't going to go that far. She merely wanted to know which name she should put on the label.

The others had been so easy. 'Lin-san', 'Bou-san' and 'Yasuhara-sempai' had been simple, and although she had had to check the spelling of 'John' three times to make sure she got the Romaji right, she'd known exactly what to put so that hadn't presented much of a problem either. With Naru, he had so many aliases that it was difficult to know what he'd prefer.

Then it struck her. She thought of what Gene would have called him. Decisively, she wrote _Noll _on the label clearly and boldly, mentally chiding herself for knowing how to spell it.

Having finished her task, Mai quickly changed her shirt (she didn't want to walk into SPR covered in a sticky brown mess) and piled the chocolate boxes into her bag: blue for Naru, purple for Lin, green for Yasuhara, red for Bou-san and yellow for John. She thought they fit somehow.

When Mai arrived in the SPR office, she was not surprised to see Masako carrying a fancily decorated bag from an expensive shop in town, tied with a bow and obviously containing a large box. The other girl didn't say anything, but Mai could see that Masako's expression was hovering between triumph and puzzlement, as Mai hadn't visibly brought anything.

Mai tried to conceal the smug smile that was threatening to break out across her face. The other members of SPR had arrived, and when it became clear that Mai had brought them all chocolate while Masako had only brought a giant box for Naru and nothing for everyone else, they'd certainly give the medium evil looks for the rest of the day. Tipping her bag upside down, Mai watched Masako's eyebrows rise _ever so slightly _as the multi-coloured array of boxes littered the table.

"Is that _chocolate _there, Mai-chan? For _me_?" Bou-san said eagerly. "Ooooh!" He lunged for the nearest box, but Mai intercepted him.

"Ah-ah! Don't be so hasty, Bou-san. Yours is the red one."

Gleefully, Bou-san snatched it up and began untying the bow. Ayako raised one eyebrow at him and raised her handbag, but changed her mind and contented herself with staring at him as if he were stupid.

"The yellow one is yours, John," Mai said with a smile.

"Thank you, Mai-san," John said nervously, returning the smile somewhat shakily and picking up the box. He opened it very deliberately and neatly, keeping hold of the bow as he tasted one of the chocolates.

"And the green one is for you, Yasuhara-kun," Mai finished, handing it across to him. Yasuhara merely grinned at her and took the box from her with an elaborate nod as thanks.

"This is delicious, Mai-chan," Bou-san announced in the process of swallowing of chocolate.

"That's disgusting! Don't talk with your mouth full!" This time, Ayako _did _hit him with her handbag, and everyone laughed.

"I'd better take these through to Naru and Lin's offices," Mai said cheerily. She knew that neither of them was present, as they'd gone out for lunch. She decided to leave the boxes on their desks. As she was about to do so, she was struck by a sudden wicked thought, and said, "Are you coming, Masako-chan?"

A buzzing hush fell over the room as everyone turned to look at the psychic. Masako wrinkled her nose and said somewhat faintly, "I'd rather wait to give the chocolate in person."

"Okay," Mai replied brightly, noting – with a _tick _on her mental score board – that Masako hadn't mentioned anyone's name.

Buoyed by the seemingly sincere thanks and given more confidence by the fact that her chocolate was apparently nice (because she knew Bou-san wouldn't lie about food), Mai went first into Lin's office, which was just as immaculately neat as Naru's but slightly more human: he had left a paper he was checking on his desk. Mai placed the chocolate squarely next to this paper, and walked through into Naru's office.

If not for the file cabinets and laptop, the room would seem completely uninhabited. She'd never really been in the office with Naru absent before, so she hadn't noticed it before, but it was so _bare_. There was nothing to suggest Naru's personality, but then again, what _was _it? Apart from being an egotistic jerk, what was Naru like? What music did he enjoy?

_Now isn't the time for those thoughts, _her inner Mai scolded. Mai could imagine her personal Jiminy Cricket dressing up as a cherub with a golden arrow... although Cupid, if he existed, probably didn't really look like that.

With a small amount of uncertainty, Mai put the box in the centre of Naru's desk. Feeling stupid, she checked it was completely level, before hurrying out of the office before Naru and Lin could get back from their lunch.

She didn't dawdle to see Masako give Naru her chocolate, instead being satisfied with the knowledge that her own was likely to taste much better. Pushing aside all mental images of Naru throwing it in the bin, Mai settled herself at her desk and focused on her paperwork.

* * *

There was a reason why Koujo hated going out for lunch with Oliver Davis. It didn't stop him doing it every day, but it was yet another item on his ever-growing list of things he seriously disliked about his ward. His insensitivity was one of those things, and his stupid tendency to pretend nothing could touch _him_, the almighty scientist, was another. However, this particular reason concerned the condescending looks that Naru gave to – well, everyone, but specifically the waitresses in the café in which they ate their lunch.

It was a stupid reason, he knew, but it really got on his nerves. If Naru didn't think they were capable of giving him food that was up to _his _ever-so-high standards, why did he bother coming to the café? Koujo was half tempted to say he was staying behind at the office, and then follow Naru to see if they served him when he went in alone. He immediately dismissed this idea whenever he thought about it, though, as – he had to give the kid credit – Naru wasn't stupid and would know he was being followed.

Today was even worse than usual. The streets were littered with couples, many of them young, and Naru's disdainful glances hadn't gone unnoticed. Granted, public displays of love in the middle of the street weren't really Koujo's thing, either. But _he _wasn't making his opinion so obvious that it was downright _rude_.

When they reached the café, they had to wait in the queue behind one of these couples. Koujo was vehemently hoping that no one thought they were anything other than business partners (and he even detested the word _partners_). After all, homosexuality wasn't uncommon. Still, the thought that anyone would even _think _that made him physically sick. He barely managed fulfil his task of watching over Naru without strangling the moron. Clever as he was, it was clear that Naru was still as much of a silly little boy as anyone else.

The storm had unleashed itself across Naru's face when they sat down. As well as his fists being clenched, his jaw was stiff, his eyebrows were almost joined together in the middle, and his gaze was harsh. Koujo sighed.

"It's a public holiday. No one is going to stop celebrating it because you don't like it. Just ignore it."

"Did I say I wanted them to?" Naru said shortly.

"No, but I can tell you're thinking it."

"You don't know what I'm thinking."

Koujo regretted bothering with an attempt to give Naru advice in public relations. Brat. Well, it would serve him right when everyone refused to help him with anything in the future.

"Any Valentines, Lin?" Naru asked mockingly as a girl walked past reading (or more likely rereading) a small piece of paper.

"I imagine you'll receive chocolate," Koujo said coldly.

Naru let out a sound that was something of a laugh by his standards, but was still laced with meanness and presumed superiority. "I don't particularly _like_ chocolate. Gene was the hedonist, not me."

Koujo raised an eyebrow across the table at him. Part of him was telling him not to be too harsh on the teenager because he was obviously concealing pain at chocolate reminding him of his twin. However, armed with the knowledge that Eugene Davis wouldn't have wanted his brother to say such horrible things, he said in a low voice, "Stop being such an ungrateful little shit, Oliver. Personally, I'm surprised anyone bothered."

Naru's eyes widened and his lips parted ever so slightly, but he seemed to _finally_ take the hint and turned his eyes to his lunch with merely a discontented frown on his face. Koujo fought back a smirk and busied himself with enjoying his own meal.

While Naru didn't refrain from glaring at couples during the walk back to SPR, it was more of an annoyed glare as opposed to one that emanated loathing. Koujo found as they neared the building that he had a terrible headache. Despite 'getting one over' on his charge, the fact that he'd had to intervene still left an unpleasant taste in the back of his throat.

"I'll be in my office," Naru said, unnecessarily, as he opened the door. However, as soon as they stepped through, they were assaulted by Hara Masako and a huge flowery bag that was obviously for Naru.

Wincing, Koujo dodged her gushing greetings and walked towards his own office, rubbing his temples. Telling himself that Naru having to deal with Hara-san's 'gift' was something to be amused about, Koujo sank into his chair with a sigh and reached for the paper he had been working on.

His hand found instead a small, neatly wrapped box. Astonished, he brought it towards him for a closer look. It was wrapped in purple paper and tied with a darker purple ribbon, which held down a small white card that simply read, "Lin". Koujo's eyes moved between the box and the door, and his lips curved up in a small smile. Mai.

Still smiling, Koujo unwrapped the box carefully, putting the ribbon aside, and opened it to find a small selection of hand-made chocolates. He marvelled at Mai's subtlety as opposed to Masako's blatant attention-seeking, and tasted one of the chocolates – it was delicious. It seemed to taste of genuine, honest and pure affection. He imagined that everyone had received a box of chocolate like this, but he still felt touched that she'd bothered.

He also knew that Naru certainly didn't appreciate Mai enough and a box of chocolates wasn't about to change that. Koujo began to rise out of his chair to go and thank her, but then his gaze wandered back towards the desk, and he had a better idea.

Sitting back in his seat, all traces of his headache gone, Koujo pulled out a pen and a piece of paper.

* * *

The next day, when Mai walked into the SPR office, she was absolutely amazed to find a note on her desk.

She stood above it for at least a minute, heart pounding, staring at the small, folded piece of paper that was kept closed by an immaculately tied ribbon.

Gingerly, Mai picked it up and slowly pulled one end of the bow to release the paper. Dropping the ribbon on her desk, she opened the note.

_Thank you for the chocolate – it was very thoughtful of you, and absolutely delicious – and please accept my apologies if yours is not as well made on White Day._

Mai's jaw dropped. The short note was not signed, but even so she felt a blush spread across her cheeks. She wondered who had left it. Suddenly her eyes fell on the ribbon she had discarded, and she picked it up, holding it to the light.

Purple. _Purple_?

Amazed, Mai read the note again. She glanced over at the door to Naru's assistant's office and smiled.

She knew that things would not immediately change between her and Lin, and that it was likely that he wouldn't abruptly start speaking to her more than he usually did. But still, she was filled with the warmth of a secret bond shared with someone, and she smiled at the note and put it into her pocket to take it home.

She didn't know what she had expected when she had brought in those five boxes of chocolates. The nonsensical part of her had imagined Naru appearing with a bouquet of flowers to thank her, although she knew that would never happen.

But somehow, she thought, she liked this better.


End file.
